According to records from the state Registry of Motor Vehicles, the Worcester man has a history of arrests on drunken driving charges, although only one conviction.

He was charged four times with operating under the influence of alcohol, according to records.

In two of those arrests, in 1991 and 2000, Mr. Bohigian refused to take a breath test to determine the alcohol content in his blood. As a result, he lost his license for 120 days.

The accident two weeks ago in Shrewsbury happened at 12:30 a.m. after Ms. McCarty had left her shift at Jillian's and was headed home, family members speculate.

Police say Mr. Bohigian was driving a 2002 Hyundai Elantra and struck Ms. McCarty's 2008 Cadillac SRX6 and then ran over her. Ms. McCarty was outside her vehicle after it had crashed into a guardrail on the Route 140 on-ramp to Interstate 290.

The investigation into the crash continues. It is not yet clear how her vehicle hit the guardrail.

A state police report obtained from Westboro District Court said that after dragging Ms. McCarty's body, which was wedged under his car, Mr. Bohigian got out of his car after it stopped in the breakdown lane and walked past Ms. McCarty, who was on the ground unconscious. Mr. Bohigian then sat on a guardrail. He had lacerations to his head. When police arrived, he allegedly told them that another motorist had run over Ms. McCarty.

Police said Mr. Bohigian was belligerent and uncooperative and "showed no emotion or interest" when they tried to explain to him the seriousness of Ms. McCarty's injuries.

When police asked Mr. Bohigian where he was coming from before the accident, he allegedly told them, "I had a date with a beautiful woman."

Mr. McCarty said his daughter is "holding her own." He and other family members visit her daily at UMass.

"The bottom of her spine is broken. We're hoping that it heals. A big chunk of her right knee was missing," Mr. McCarty said in a shaky voice.

"Her mother (Kathleen McCarty) told me to rub her arm and feet. And, it was almost like she gave a little smile," he said of his recent visit after one of her surgeries. "They say she doesn't see and she doesn't talk. I think she's showing signs. But, she's heavily sedated."

Ms. McCarty's sister, Amy Strickland of Leominster, who is caring for her sister's two younger children, ages 6 and 7, said Ms. McCarty is "fighting for her life." She said her sister's 16-year-old daughter is staying with a family in Lunenburg. Mrs. Strickland said she and others celebrated the sixth birthday of Ms. McCarty's son last weekend.

Her sister, she said, is a hard-working, health-conscious single mother who cares about the environment. She said Ms. McCarty would do anything to help others.

The family has set up a Go Fund Me account to raise money to help pay Ms. McCarty's bills. She said the family is requesting that people pray for her sister and her children.

"We're just all really, really devastated. The whole family is feeling very lost," Mrs. Strickland said, as she softly sobbed.

"We're just praying she's strong enough to make a full recovery. They tell us it's a day-to-day thing. That's what we're doing."

Police wrote on their arrest documents that Mr. Bohigian was employed by Securitas. On its website, Securitas USA, which has an office in Westboro, lists its core business as uniformed guard services. A company spokesman in an email this week called Mr. Bohigian a former employee, but declined to comment on the specifics of his employment history.

Mr. Bohigian was first arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol on Route 9 in Shrewsbury on October 23, 1989, when he was 26.

He was found guilty of that charge and responsible for speeding, failure to drive within marked lanes and driving a motor vehicle with defective equipment. His license was suspended for 45 days.

After his first OUI conviction, Mr. Bohigian refused an alcohol breath test the next three times he was arrested when police thought his driving was impaired by alcohol.

In November 1991, he was again arrested by Shrewsbury police and charged with driving while under the influence of liquor (second offense). Mr. Bohigian's license was suspended for 120 days for his refusal to take a chemical test to determine his blood alcohol level. He requested a jury trial and was found not guilty of OUI, as well as speeding, failure to drive within marked lanes, operating a motor vehicle negligently so as to endanger, and failure to keep right when meeting a vehicle.

In December 2000, he was arrested in Charlton and charged with OUI. According to the police report, he was also charged with carrying a loaded firearm in his vehicle while driving under the influence.

Again, Mr. Bohigian refused to take an alcohol breath test and his license was suspended for 120 days. He was subsequently found not guilty of the two charges. He was also found not responsible for possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, marked lanes violation, and failure to keep right on hill/obstructed view.

He refused a breath test after his arrest last month. He also refused to have a blood sample drawn when he was taken to the hospital to be treated for lacerations to his head. After police got a search warrant from a judge on call that night, several state troopers had to handcuff him to a gurney in order to get the blood sample. It was refrigerated and sent to the state police crime lab for analysis.

Mr. Bohigian is being held at the Worcester County House of Correction in lieu of $50,000 cash bail or $500,000 with surety. If he makes bail before his next court date on April 10, he will be required to wear an electronic monitoring system.

He is also prohibited from having any contact with Ms. McCarty.

This time, because Mr. Bohigian has one prior drunken driving conviction, the RMV has suspended his driver's license for three years. He is also facing several years in jail and/or fines, if he is convicted on his current charges, including drunken driving (second offense), negligent operation of a motor vehicle, OUI-liquor and serious injury, leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury, speeding, state highway-traffic violation, and intimidate witness/juror/police/court official.

Mr. Bohigian has additional driving offenses that date to 1985, including three accidents in Worcester.

Contact Elaine Thompson at ethompson@telegram.com.

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